Locomotive smoke consumer



Feb. 12, 1935. STEPHENS 1,990,921

LOCOMOTIVE SMOKE CONSUMER Filed Sept. 15, 1952 wi e/1227 Patented Feb. 12, 1935 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE LOCOMOTIVE SMOKE CONSUMER Fred G. Stephens, Granite City, 111. Application September 15, 1932, Serial No. 633,259

Claims. (01. 110-76) I This invention relates to locomotive smoke contives successfully; anghsatisfactorily, and thereby sumers. diminish the cos of eir operaion. I

It isa familiar fact that, in the operation of Other objects will be apparent from the follocomotives using coal as fuel, difiiculty is enlowing description, reference being made to the '5 countered in obtaining sufficiently complete comannexed drawing, in whichi bustion to prevent the discharge of large and ob- Fig. 1 is a vertical longitudinal sectional view jectionable amounts of smoke, soot and other of that portion of the locomotive comprising the products of imperfect combustion. A cause of fire-box and ad acent equipment. the failure to obtain. complete and sufficient com- Fig. 2 is a vertical cross-sectional view apbustion has existed in the insufficiency of the conproximately on the 1l1Iiiet22t0f Fig.5; but offslez 10 struction of the locomotive and in the comhrough one side wa o in ersec e an in e bustion equipment thereof to inject a sufiicient passage. amount of oxygen into the combustion chamber Fig 3 IS an enlarged cross-sect onal view apand into-the partially vaporized products of comp e y 0n the llne 0f a 1 5 bustion to cause these products of combustion to The body of the locomotive shown comp be consumed and to prevent their discharge into a fire-box 1 into which the fuel coal 1S delivered the open atmosphere, through a door opening 2, the burning coal and An object of the present invention is to provy lidlpr ut of tmb ti lil ms lrllpiw vide construction and equipment that may easily d p t e m e 5 ue We 3. e are 1; BS

be embodied in and combined with many or all 4 a One end p g the 061111181 w te -20 types of railway and terminal locomotives now Space 5 at the fuel reeelvlllg end of the fi -bo in general use in this country to inject into'the Thesgif1 tubeizsh extend IOICIWQII'CEY a d h t e ly combustion chamber of the locomotive an inend v v Orwar en S p n n l 0 e creased amount of air which becomes mixed with cellular water space 6 at the front lower pc the gases resulting-from incomplete combustion, 0f the An arch '1 Composed 25 and thereby supply the gases and the solid brick extends across the lower front portion of trained therewith or supported thereby with sufthe t between the slde Walls 3 e ficient oxygen to increase combustion thereof and 15 pp e hy the ub 4 and he Walls 8. and prevent or diminish their discharge into the A Space 9 1S 'p t e e ow r front end of open atmosphere. In accomplishing this object f t h whlchba P8133332 thertilroldutcrilis 30 of the invention, I have devised a satisfactory ,0 00m 15 1011 may pass ey e e 0 e arrangement and construction easily capable of 10, through wtlleh fi e he p oducts of 00membodiment in and combination with many or bustlcitl P TIE tfltlmete d a e lofilm thehlo most types of locomotives with which I am fa- Como 9 real upper en e c miliar, in order to obtain the indicated beneficial leaves e gg 2 5 2 the I 35 efiects and resume rear en 0 e reox, roug w ic e re- Another object of the present invention is to maining volatile products of combustion may pass provide equipment for locomotives and thelike 4 1 q easily capable of embodiment and combination i e q g il ifq i gi pgfi therewith to utilize and cooperate with many of gi za gg i g i gpp g gp gg gg g; f i i fi g i ig to pump air into the reservoir 12 and to compress V 0 mo 1 y 8 Opera 9 an ec theair in said reservoir to the extent desired of the existmg features, and to utilize their acthrough a pipe 14h tion to obtain nearly complete combustion of the According to the present invention I provide gases and solids that have heretofore been disan auxiliary compressed air reservoir 15. 1

charged into the open atmosphere as a result of vide a pipe 1 opening into the pipe 14; and into incomplete combustion. one side of a pressure reducing valve device .17

Another object of the invention is to improve which is effective to discharge the air from the and increase greatly the efficiency of the comopposite side thereof at reduced pressure into a 5 0 bustion equipment of locomotives and the like, pipe 18. I consider the Westinghouse feed reto utilize profitably the large proportions of fuels ducing pressure valve adequate for this purpose that have heretofore been lost and discharged because said valve is well known commercially into the open atmosphere, and to reduce the and is used for the purpose of reducing the presamount of fuels required to operate the locomosure of air admitted to one side and discharged 5 from the other side thereof, so that the construction, use and mode of operation of said valve are well known and require no detailed illustration or explanation herein.

The pipe 18 opens into the auxiliary reservoir 15, and the pressure reducing valve 17 is easily adjustable and operative to reduce the pressure from the high pressure in the reservoir 12 to a desired pressure of twenty to thirty pounds, for instance, in the auxiliary reservoir 15. The pipe 16 is equipped with a valve 19 manually adjustable to vary the amount of air passing through the pipe 16, or to prevent any air from passing through said pipe from the pipe 14,-as desired. A pipe 20 has one end opening into the auxiliary reservoir 15 and the other end communicating with any appropriate known type of pressure gage 21 mounted in a convenient position for observation, as shown. a a A pipe 22 has oneend opening into the auxiliary reservoir 15 and the oppositeend opening into a flue or tube 23 extending through the water space 24 at one'side of the fire-box.

A fire-brick 25 forming a part of the arch '7 is rigidly mounted between the wall 8 of the firebox and the adjacent arch tube 4, and has passage 26 therethrough with one end communicating and registering with the inner end of the flue '23, so that the compressed air discharged from the pipe 22 will pass through the flue 23 and into and through the passage 26. A fire-brick 2'7 forming a part of the arch '7 has inwardly diverging passages 28 and 29 therein. The outer side edge of the fire-brick 2'7 that abuts against the inner side edge of the fire-brick 25 has an opening formed by the intersection of the outwardly converging and inwardly diverging passages 28 and 29. Extended portions 30 and 31 of the passages 28 and 29, respectively, extend to the inner side edge of the fire-brick 2'7 and communicate with passages 32 and 33, respectively, in an adjacent abutting fire-brick 34. The passage 28 and the passage 32 have discharge openings through which air is discharged to the underside of the arch '7, as clearly indicated by the broken lines 36 (Fig. 1) And the passages 29 and 33 have discharge openings 3'7 at their endsthrough which air is discharged above the arch '7, as clearly indicated by the broken lines 38. The said fire-brick 25, 2'7 and 34 extend considerably above the arch forming fire- 'brick '7, so that the discharge openings 3'7 are above the upper surface, of the arch formed by said fire-brick '7 and will direct intersecting jets of air. upwardly and rearwardly into the space between the rear end of the arch and the upper wall of the fire-box.

' The air jets 36 discharged through the openings 35converge or intesect, as clearly shown in Fig. 1, thus producing an agitated whirling effect of the gases and entrained solids and obtaining an adequate mixture of air therewith, with the result that a far better and more complete combustion is obtained, thus preventing a great amount of the volatile matter and entrained solids from passing to the fiues 10.

Similarly, the jets of air 38 discharged from the jet openings 3'7 intersect each other and inject a sufficient amount of air, and thereby supply suflicient oxygen, to cause a nearly complete combustion of the remaining volatile and entrained solid fuels produced by the incomplete combustion of the coal.

regulating the amount of. air discharged into the My invention comprises means for varyingand invention to said different types, all without departure from the nature and principle of the invention. I do not restrict myself in unessential particulars, but what I claim and desire to secure by Letters Patent is:- k

1. In a locomotive having a firebox, and a series of fire-brick forming an upwardly and rearwardly inclined arch in the firebox, certain of said fire-brick toward the front of said archhaving portions extending above rearwardly adjacent fire-brick and having passages opening through the rear of said upwardly extended portions for ejecting jets of air above the arch into and toward the rear of the firebox.

2. In a locomotive having a firebox, a series of fire-brick forming an upwardly and rearwardly inclined arch in the firebox, certain of said brick toward the front of the arch having transverse passages extending toward one side wall of the firebox and having openings at their rearward faces both above and below said arch and directed toward the rear of the firebox, and means forming a passage through the side wall of the firebox for discharging fluid into saidpassages in said fire-brick. I

3. In a locomotive having a firebox provided with a grate structure in the lower portion thereof and with a fuel delivery door through the rear end thereof and having walls forming a water space at the rear lower portion of said firebox and also having flues opening from the front of said firebox; an arch of fire brick extending upwardly and rearwardly from the front lower portion of said firebox and having a space near its front lower portion for the passage of products of combustion from said firebox against one of said walls and toward said flues and the rear end of said arch being separated by an intervening space from the rear end and top of the firebox for the passage of a part of the products of combustion from the firebox toward said flues, said arch having passages therethrough for ejecting converging jets of air below said arch and toward the rearof the firebox and having other passages for ejecting converging jets of air above said arch and toward the rear of the firebox, and mechanism for forcing air through all of said passages and into the firebox.

4. In a locomotive having a firebox, and a series of fire-brick forming an upwardly and rearwardly inclined arch in the firebox provided with an opening at its forward lower portion for the passage of a part of the products of combustion and said arch having its rear end separated by an intervening space from the rear end and top of the firebox for the passage of products of combustion, certain of said fire-brick toward the front of said arch and rearwardly from said opening having portions extending above rearwardly adjacent fire-brick and having passages opening through the rear of said upwardly extending portions for ejecting jets of air above said arch into and toward the rear of said firebox.

5. In a locomotive having a firebox, a series of fire-brick forming an upwardly and rearwardly inclined arch in the firebox provided with an opening at its forward lower portion for the passage of a part of the products of combustion and said arch having its rear end separated by an intervening space from the rear end and top of 10 the firebox for the passage of products of combustion, certain of said fire-brick toward the front of the arch and rearwardly from said opening having transverse passages extending toward one side wall of the firebox and having openings at their rearward faces both above and below said arch and directed toward the rear of the firebox, and means forming a passage through the side wall of the firebox for discharging fluid into said passages in said fire-brick.

FRED G. STEPHENS. 

